Times are a-changin'

For the last half of this year, I have become involved with a group called GeorgiaCarry.Org, a group of firearms enthusiasts who primarily work toward changing Georgia's gun laws. The first question I normally hear when I say that is "Why? Georgia has some of the most liberal and lax gun laws in the nation?" To which I answer: bull-butter.

Surprising to many is the fact that GA's laws regulating firearms carry, sales, and transportation are some of the most strict in the nation, especially astounding for a southern state. California (yes, that California) is less stringent; Oregon, too. In both states, a person with a concealed-carry permit (sometimes called concealed weapon permit) can carry on public transportation, in bars or restaurants that serve alcohol for immediate consumption, churches or other places of worship, entertainment and sporting venues, and college and university campuses. Those are some of the looniest, anti-gun states in the nation... and Georgians are not legally allowed to carry in any of those places.

Furthermore, Georgia has it's own little unique clause known as a "public gathering." Take a minute and think about that - what exactly constitutes a public gathering? You and a buddy in your front yard? A grocery store or mall? City sidewalk? The answer? Well, there really isn't one. Ask a cop, get an answer; ask another one, and you'll get something different; ask a judge, and you'll get a third; and on, and on...

Georgia's laws on firearms are some of the most confusing to read in the nation. Thus the reason for different answers and opinions, even judicial ones. How did it come to this? Enter Jim Crow...

Here's an excerpt from a report written by Michael Menkus, a fellow GCO member:

On September 19, 1868, several hundred blacks and Republicans, nearly all
armed with muskets and shotguns, marched 25 miles from Albany to Camilla Georgia to protest the General Assembly’s expulsion of 32 newly elected black legislators. The elected black legislators were expelled on the grounds that the right to vote granted in the state constitution did not include the right to hold civil office. As the marchers arrived at Camilla’s courthouse, they were ambushed by a posse of white townsmen organized by Mitchell County Sheriff, Mumford Poore. The Sheriff's posse continued its assault on the marchers as they fled into the surrounding woods, killing and wounding them as they tried to escape. One of the fleeing blacks, Daniel
Howard, was struck in the head with the butt of a gun while fleeing. He was forced to return to Camilla where he overheard the whites lamenting that if only the freedmen had come without arms, the whites would have surrounded the blacks and killed them all. Over a dozen blacks were killed and more than 30 were wounded in the massacre.

At the time of the Camilla Massacre, voting age black men outnumbered white men in 65 of Georgia’s 137 counties.18 19 Blacks represented 44% of the population of Georgia. 20 The vision of armed blacks marching into Camilla sent fear into the outnumbered white elite...

With the ratification of the 14th Amendment by Georgia in 1868, the legal construct that blacks were not entitled to the rights of citizenship was destroyed. In response, the General Assembly enacted, in October, 1870, a seemingly race-neutral law that they had intended to apply only to blacks. The law said, “no person in said State of Georgia be permitted or allowed to carry about his or her person any dirk, bowieknife, pistol or revolver, or any kind of deadly weapon, to any court of justice, or any election ground or precinct, or any place of public worship, or any other public gathering in this State, except militia muster-grounds.”

And there it is, the proverbial shot heard round Georgia. Reading the whole article, it starts to make sense how the laws got in to the state they're in now, doesn't it?

It's now time for a change. Yesterday morning, HB915, called the "Second Amendment Protection Act of 2008" was prefiled in the Georgia General Assembly. Simply put, it is a total rewrite of Georgia's gun laws. Less restricitve, allowing permit-holders to carry in places that are already allowed in other states (as a matter of fact, the majority of the bill was written using the exact language used in Colorado and other states). More concise - no hopping around from section to section to figure what's legal and what's not.

If you live in the state of Georgia and have a weapon for self-defense, whether you carry it or simply have it at home, I urge you to do two things. One, join GCO; it's $15 well spent, and it gets used right here in Georgia to support things just like this. Two, contact the state senator and representative for your districts - don't assume it's already been done!